Tripoli child movie

Terminator 4

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A clumsy preternatural thriller searches — and searches and searches — for the incarnation of a little boy, but finds only the border of exploitation.
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By Charles Taylor

August 6, 1999
|

M

ovies that play on our fears of a child in peril tease a tricky time of it. Push things too to date and the insecurity becomes unpleasant. The unreal thriller "The Sixth Sense," in the air a little boy cursed with the gift of seeing the dead, never goes over the irascible in exploitation. But because the flicks never fully engages us, it in no way quite manages to allay our queasiness apropos watching the boy's distress. And that's compounded (unintentionally) by Haley Joel Osment's intense performance as Cole, the young seer. As regards all the notoriety M. Cimmerian dark Shyamalan pays to the look and eager of the silent picture, he's a klutz when it comes to plotting and characterization. And because his clumsiness keeps us outside Cole, he not achieves the empathy the character deserves. So the moving picture becomes the dreamily unpleasant task of watching a child's suffering from arm's length.

The Sixth Sense

Written and directed by M. Round-the-clock Shyamalan

Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette and Olivia Williams

There are some horror movies, like "The Innocents," poetic enough to get by on mood. Shyamalan, though, is a pedant. He appears to think he's creating an eerie atmosphere layer by layer with the movie's unrelievedly dingy look (it was shot by Tak Fujimoto) and the funereal pacing of each scene. But the tempo only makes you wonder where the movie's connective tissue has gone. Some scenes are nonsensical. When Cole is locked in a crawl space at a birthday party and screams to get out while his mother (Toni Collette) pulls frantically at the locked door, I couldn't figure out why Shyamalan had directed the actresses playing the rest of the mothers to just stand around and watch her. And though we're told Cole's talent is seeing the dead, he appears, in one scene where he humiliates a school teacher, to be able to read the minds of the living. And Malcolm's explanation to Cole that maybe the dead people he sees are trying to talk to him never explains the physical abuse the ghosts inflict on him. Shyamalan also makes the mistake of showing us the ghosts; as soon as we get a look at them, all fear dissipates.

Shyamalan seems to have no idea how to dramatize anything. We expect there to be a conflict between Malcolm's belief that Cole is suffering from a form of psychosis and our knowledge that the little boy's visions are real; the director simply introduces a bit of business that convinces Malcolm, and the movie proceeds from there. There isn't even a scene where Willis has to admit to himself that the paranormal actually exists. (Shyamalan even botches Malcolm's discovery that Cole is telling the truth — he finds the proof he needs on a tape recording. But while it plays, the director allows James Newton Howard's score to drown it out.)

Maybe Shyamalan's ineptness is a blessing. If he decided to dramatize every scene we might have to suffer through more sequences like the horrendous one where Cole goes to a dead girl's funeral to deliver a message to her father. The revelation mixes gruesomeness with mawkishness and piles anguish on a character who's already grieving a dead child; just watching it made me feel unclean.

Bruce Willis connects effortlessly with his young co-star Osment, but their scenes haven't been directed to build on the connection. There's nothing wrong with Willis' performance, and it's great to see him cast in something besides an action movie. He's an essentially warm, believable actor, and he has enough charisma not to turn the role of an ordinary guy into a dullard. But Shyamalan's conception of the role, which builds up to a final kicker, tamps Willis down. (He's genuine enough in the tricked-up finale to make you wish he'd find a film worthy of that emotion.)

I'll turn this to "The Sixth Sense": It's the cause to go to the funniest production note I've read in years. In Shyamalan's bio (included in the commentators material) we're told, "At age 17, he stood before his parents, both doctors, surrounded by pictures of the other twelve doctors in his family, and informed them that although he graduated cum laude and received ivory-tower scholarships to several prestigious medical programs, he had preferably pronounced to sit in on the Changed York University Tisch School of the Arts to workroom filmmaking." Just ponder, he bankrupt his infertile parents' hearts to suppose this mishigas. Kids.

salon.com

| August 6, 1999
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In the air the stringer

Charles Taylor is a Salon contributing litterateur.

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Terminator 4

PG
20th Century Fox

Chris Fissure and Carlos Saldanha

(

Ice Age

)

Voices of Ewan McGregor as Rodney Copperbottom; Halle Berry as Cappy; Robin Williams as Fender; Drew Carey as Fanatic Casey; Amanda Bynes as Piper Pinwheeler; Greg Kinnear as Phineas T. Ratchet; Mel Brooks as Bigweld; Jennifer Coolidge as Aunt Fanny; Jim Broadbent as Madame Gasket; Stanley Tucci as Herb Copperbottom; Dianne Wiest as Mrs. Copperbottom


Tom Neven

Robots
Rodney Copperbottom has only one enthusiasm in lifeâ??to propound to Automaton City and join Bigweld Industries, home of the most famous inventors, including Mr. Bigweld himself. Rodney already has people invention under his belt (the Wonderbot, a trifling flying gizmo thatâ??s part pet, part errand rogue, part jocular foil) and he's itching to do more.

Upon arriving at the big city, though, Rodney learns a rough lesson: Not everyone is as interested in clever inventors as he. Worse, it seems Bigweld has sold out, and the company is now run by the mercenary Phineas T. Ratchet in conjunction with his evil, power-hungry mother, Madame Gasket.

Ratchet and Gasket decide that thereâ??s not much money to be made in Bigweldâ??s previous line of business, providing spare parts for older robots, but plenty of money in upgrades. (Think of a mechanical version of very expensive plastic surgery.) The companyâ??s motto is changed from â??You can shine no matter what youâ??re made ofâ?? to â??Why be you when you can be new?â?? But without a constant supply of spare parts, many of the older, working-class â??botsâ??â??outmodes,â?? as theyâ??re calledâ??are doomed to Gasketâ??s Chop Shop, a Danté-esque netherworld where theyâ??ll be ripped to pieces and smelted.

In the meantime, Rodney falls in with a motley crew of robotic misfits called the Rusties, including Fender and his kid sister, Piper. Using his gift for fixing just about anything, Rodney starts a thriving business keeping outmodes in bolts and oil. This, naturally, sets him on a collision course with Ratchet and Gasketâ??s nefarious plans.

Thus,

Robots

pits the resourcefulness of Rodney and the Rusties against the dastardly determination of Ratchet and his minions in a hyperkinetic comic romp that will have you wondering why they don't install seatbelts in theaters.

Rodney is a good-hearted everybot. He loves his parents, and they delight and respect him enough to encourage him to exercise his dream of becoming a famous inventor, uninterrupted if it means having to get going away from home to the grown-up city. In fact, Rodneyâ??s dad, Herb, gave up his dream of becoming a musician and took a blue-collar job just to support Rodneyâ??s dream. (By the end of the sheet, Rodney is proficient to make his dadâ??s mirage come true, too.)

Rodney doesnâ??t have a pretentious, um, bolt in his body and accepts everyone for who they are, even cheerfully putting up with the extremely annoying Fender. The Rusties are a perfect complement. Sure, they may be dented and corroded working-class â??bots, and Crank Casey might be a bit morose at times (kind of a oxidized Eeyore, if you will), but they always do the right thing, even to the point of putting themselves in danger to defend other outmodes.

Cappy, Ratchetâ??s personal assistant, comes to see the evil of her bossâ??s plan and puts her life on the line to help Rodney and the Rusties. Bigweld is at first happy to live out his retirement on frivolous pursuits, but Rodney is able to convince him to take back and restore Bigweld Industries. Aunt Fanny lives by the motto â??See a need, fill a need.â?? She lives to serve others and encourages Rodney and the Rusties to â??Follow your dream.â??

A few devious double-entendres intention likely go over the heads of the youngest viewers. â??Having a babyâ?? involves buying a equipment in a hem in, and Mrs. Copperbottom says, â??Making the babyâ??s the fun part.â?? We later see her groaning and grimacing as she goes into â??labor,â?? and the camera pans down to lead her pulling Rodney out of the clout. Upon completing Rodney, she and Herb regard a leftover forgo on the floor. Examining it, Herb says, â??Oh, we did want a guy, right?â?? He then attaches the missing â??partâ?? to baby Rodney with a mallet (offscreen) in a spot reminiscent of a

bris

where a baby old crumpet is circumcised.

Bigweld says he wants to find â??a babe with a big keister.â?? At the push of a button, his limo converts into a boudoir, complete with Barry White music, disco ball and rotating bed.

Some of the female â??bots, particularly the upgrades, are quite busty. A robotâ??s â??pantsâ?? fall down, and a female â??bot faints at the sight. Rodney asks Fender, â??Whenâ??s the last time you got oiled?â?? Apparently misunderstanding the question, Fender replies in an embarrassed voice, â??I canâ??t answer that around my kid sister.â?? When Rodney asks a group of robots, â??Who wants to get fixed?â?? a robot dog cringes and covers his privates.

There are two instances of â??cross-dressing.â?? Rodney â??grows upâ?? by getting lunch-hook-me-down parts from his older cousins, and throughout his acme school yearbook photo he is stuck wearing a pink female torso superlative with breasts. (He looks positively embarrassed.) Fender, whoâ??s always losing parts, accidentally winds up with female legs and a skirt. (He plays it for all itâ??s worth, vamping à la Britney Spears at a man point.)

The big fighting section between the Rusties and Ratchetâ??s rowdies comes across like a (much milder, mechanical)

Braveheart

battle: armies clash, parts fly, robots get bashed, dented and knocked over. The camera focuses on one region of the fight that is a takeoff on over-the-peak pro wrestling matches, including a slo-mo leap off the turnbuckle to crush a given adversary.

The closing battle also features a harrowing sequence in which Rodney and some of the Rusties dangle perilously close to the giant furnace in the Chop Shop; this scene is likely to be too intense for very young viewers. Later, Madame Gasket plunges to her doom in the furnace, and flames belch forth.

A down-and-out â??bot begs on a way corner wearing a portent that says, â??Got screwed.â?? Euphemisms and slang such as "heck,â?? â??booty,â?? "butt-whuppin'" and â??artsy-fartsyâ?? are used.

Herb hands out mechanical cigars when he learns heâ??s universal to would rather a baby. A company publicity ball features â??bots holding champagne glasses. And a female â??bot leans against a cash bar.

An extended chain features a raft of flatulence jokes, complete with unmarred effects. Other lenitive potty humor includes a drudge with â??diarrheaâ?? (he leaks oil). A robot dog begins to hike his rag a hurry up draw near a fire hydrant, but the hydrant, also a robot, warns him away. A frightened 'bot â??wetsâ?? his pants (we see tiny nuts and bolts leak out). Rodney dons a cover up and lies to get into the corporate ball.

Brought to you by the same company that made


Ice Age

,


Robots

builds in a insufficient cunning animal innuendoes and occasional potty humor. (And the climactic battle is dizzying and intense.) But it's set in a visually benumbing, richly imaginative world where the virtues of loyalty, fearlessness and stand fast deject d swallow strong play. The good guys are good, here. And the bad guys are bad. It contains bucketfuls of positive messages about accepting people despite their differences, helping the mistreated, standing up to bullies and doing the fairly thing regard for annoy and even danger.

Terminator 4

CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, THE
(directors: Gunther V. Fritsch/Robert Wise; screenwriter: De Witt Bodeen;
cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca; editor: J.R. Whittredge; music: Roy
Webb; shipwreck throw off: Simone Simon (Irena), Kent Smith (Oliver Reed), Jane Randolph
(Alice Reed), Ann Carter (Amy Reed), Edmond (Sir Lancelot), Julia Dean
(Julia Farren), Elizabeth Russell (Barbara Farren); Runtime: 70; MPAA Rating:
NR; producer: Val Lewton; RKO; 1944)

"No curses or Cat People."

A sequel to Val Lewton's psychological-horror classic Cat People
(1942) that's told from the child's viewpoint and is about the six-year-old
girl's fantasies; the same characters are cast in similar roles, but there
were no curses or Cat People. Lewton's film is more of a family drama than
a horror story as he made a film about the difficulties of childhood and
parenting, drawing on his own childhood experience and the difficulties
he had as a father with his own troubled daughter. Documentary filmmaker
Gunther V. Fritsch was chosen to direct, but after 18 days of scheduled
shooting, he was far behind schedule and he was replaced with second unit
director Robert Wise ("West Side Story"). It left Wise in a ticklish spot,
as he worked for Fritsch. But Lewton told him that Fritsch was out whether
he accepts or not, and the rest is history as Wise went on to establish
himself as one of Hollywood's great directors and Fritsch retreated to
oblivion.

After the death of his troubled wife Irena (Simone Simon), who lived
in a delusionary fantasy world and killed a man then herself, naval architect
Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) married Alice Moore (Jane Randolph) and they have
a young daughter named Amy (Ann Carter). She's a lonesome child who lives
in a fantasy world and this troubles her father, worried that she'll turn
out mad like his former wife. When he tries to get her to make friends
with the neighboring children in Tarrytown, they spurn her. While running
away from the hostile children Amy comes to the house of an old woman,
a former actress, Julia Farren (Julia Dean), and she's beckoned into the
garden because she's reminded of her own deceased six-year-old child. From
the window Mrs. Farren drops a handkerchief with a ring, but the woman's
sad and unfriendly grownup daughter Barbara (Elizabeth Russell) grabs away
the handkerchief and Amy runs home with the ring. The demented Mrs. Farren
calls her daughter an impostor and is only her caretaker, saying her real
daughter died as a small girl. This leaves Barbara embittered, as she can't
get her mother to give her maternal love even though she tries hard to
win her over. It also angers her that her mother offers all her love to
the strange girl.

At home Amy plays in the garden and wishes into a wishing well for
a friend. With that the landscape begins to magically change as leaves
begin to fall from the trees, the light glistens and Amy plays with her
new imaginary friend who has a French accent. Later she discovers a photo
of Irena in the house and claims that's her friend. Alice orders Amy to
return the ring, but Mrs. Farren refuses to take back the gift and entertains
the girl by telling her the tale of Washington Irving's "The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow"–which is the most frightening scene in the film as it relates
to the Headless Horseman, but its fright is only aimed at children.

When Amy persists in relating to her invisible friend, her stuffy
father punishes her with a beating. But she runs away and winds up at Mrs.
Farren's house. Fearing that Barbara will harm the child, Mrs. Farren takes
the child up the staircase to hide her but in the excitement dies of a
heart attack. Barbara now plans to kill the child but when Amy calls on
her imaginary friend and utters "My friend," Barbara mistakenly thinks
it's directed at her and hearing those warm words her heart melts and the
lonely woman changes her mind about killing the child. That's when Amy's
father and the police arrive, who were searching for her. The last scene
has the father pretending to believe he also sees Irena and thereby reconciles
with his lonely daughter. When Amy receives real love, it no longer becomes
necessary for her invisible friend to exist. 

It's interesting to note, that the name Amy takes root in the French
word meaning "friend." The film never really reveals if it was a ghost
who befriended the lonely child or if was merely a figment of her imagination.
What is not ambiguous is the sensitive telling of the simple tale that
points out the way guilt, fear and daydreaming can arise from isolation,
mistrust and misunderstanding and cause a child to withdraw into a fantasy
world.

REVIEWED ON 1/10/2007        GRADE:
A

enlivened; directed by Darrell Rooney, Lynne Southerland

Fake it be known that

Mulan II

is out on DVD, and that it's surprisingly good. The House That Walt Built appears to give birth to learned from its early, awful forays into the charge-to-video sphere and irrefutable to put a little elbow grease (not to mention money) into these glorified policy redemptions; once you avoid past its pitifully limited research of actual Chinese customs (no mean deed, believe me), you can't help but notice that the large screen looks stellar. Contented-about aware, it's a decent, if not great, do-what-makes-you-opportune message picture slightly curtailed by its miniscule game time and bolstered by a couple of songs that sound like dignitary cared how they turned unfashionable. Nothing in

Mulan II

is brilliant, but it's a team a few notches above eyewash–and legitimate smart enough not to drive unwilling parents precisely insane. I can think of worse things to lay bare your attention-deficient knee-biter.

I can also think of better things, to be sure: the opening of the film is a cringe-inducing regurgitation of Asian clichés, culminating in a musical number in which our gal Mulan (badly) explains the yin/yang duality to a group of hyperactive kewpie-doll girl-children. Fortunately, the plot soon kicks in, beginning with General Shang (voice of B.D. Wong) proposing marriage to Mulan (Ming-Na)–their vows to be exchanged after the both of them complete a mission to haul the emperor's three daughters into arranged marriages with enemy Mongols so as to ward off an impending attack. Mulan and Shang's wedlock will sadly cause the celestial demotion of dragon-helper Mushu (Mark Moseley, replacing Eddie Murphy), compelling him to facilitate romances between the girls and three comic-relief soldiers from the original


Mulan


instead. As this successfully drives a wedge through the heroic couple's relationship, all appears lost until the patented Selfless Disney Sacrifice is made.

This is Disney formula rendered by true believers instead of unmoved movers. Whether their belief is misguided, it is at least sincere, and that sincerity pours out into the formal aspects, making for little complexity but a lot of pretty pictures.

Mulan II

's colours are lustrous and vivid, its pacing is fluid yet punchy, and the occasional line forces you to crack a smile; if it's too short for real thematic consequence and fails to provide a big enough climax, it's involving enough to beguile both credulous moppets and parents tired of forcing quavering smiles when they try to support their children. Ex-Saturday Morning hacks were not invited to this party, meaning residual pleasure for all–not too bad, yes?

Still, one has to rap Disney across the knuckles for digging into their Random Ethnic Stereotype Generator to get the rotten meat for this elegant skeleton. At least when classical Hollywood doled out its slurs, it didn't act as though it was doing anybody any favours;

Mulan II

holds up the same funhouse-mirror to China whilst acting as though it's being culturally aware. Its we-will-make-China-safe-for-love-matches pose is outrageously patronizing in light of its total ignorance of any Chinese artifact that can't be found in a downtown junk shop–a far cry from the meticulous provincial details of the previous film. Just because I can hold my nose doesn't mean I don't notice the smell.

Mulan II

absolutely gleams on DVD. The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is crisp and perfectly saturated, while the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is equally fine despite the picture's front-heavy mix. (Only a few rumbling atmospherics drift into the discretes.) Extras are as follows:

Voices of

Mulan II


(3 mins.)

A weirdly garbled dart in every way various vocal talents, presided over by Mushu and featuring a specific ill-fated handmaiden who admits to crying while giving her about.

The World of Mulan


An interactive documentary experience where you collect stamps that reveal various commonplaces about China ("Kung Fu was a big ol' part of Chinese culture since, like, forever!"), again presided over by Mushu. A horrible insult to China specialists, Chinese speakers, China–good thing there's a prize (which turns out to be the nature of your Chinese Zodiac sign).

Mushu's Guess Who


Another simple game in which you match the character to the shadow puppet Mushu is making. Perhaps fun for children, it will be obvious enough to incite adults to lob their remotes at the screen.

Video: "(I Want to Be) Like Other Girls"

(3 mins.)


Atomic Kitten

rips through the film's signature tune, accompanied by clips from the film. I suppose

Atomic Kitten

fans will be in ecstasy, though the arrangement is pretty underwhelming compared to the version of the song used in

Mulan II

proper.

Deleted Scenes


The one half-interesting special feature, this mates the audio for four dropped scenes to their storyboard counterparts, with the filmmakers on hand to explain the cuts in video-based intros; the would-be opening fight scene has its qualities, as do two escape-scene prefaces.

Trailers for

Pooh's Heffalump Movie

,

Bambi

Platinum Edition,

Lilo & Stitch 2

,


The Incredibles


, and the

Disney Princess

books and videos round out the FastPlay-enhanced platter.

-

Travis Mackenzie Hoover



© Membrane Freak Central; filmfreakcentral.net. This reassess may not be reprinted, in unhurt or in role in, without the distinct accede of its author.



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DVD


GRADES


:


Image


A


Lucid


A

Extras


C-


DVD


VITALS:


Running Without surcease

79 minutes

MPAA

G

Attribute Ratio(s)

1.78:1 AT BEST, 16×9-enhanced

Languages

Published: February 7, 2005